Friday, January 16, 2009

Happy Friday Make it From Scratchers! I am thrilled to say that I'll be writing here on the MIFS blog each Friday. If we haven't yet met, I'm Kellie. I've participated in the MIFS Carnival in the past and most days you can find me over at Greenhab, my blog about my family's attempts to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

Our journey started about a year and a half ago when we realized just how large our impact on the earth was. Since then we've started recycling, composting, making our own cleaning products, using natural or organic personal products, we've switched from paper towels and paper napkins to cloth ones, I downsized my vehicle and started working from home, we're buying less, spending less and enjoying life more.

I've started making more and more things from scratch these days for a variety of reasons and they all seem to go hand-in-hand with sustainability. Handmade gifts are so well received, they're less costly to make, they're not overly packaged or shipped from around the world, and you can decide what materials to use. Food made from scratch can also be cheaper, you can choose organic ingredients, and there's no end-product packaging involved. It just makes sense to me.

So each Friday I'll be here, sharing with you some of the things I've made - my failures and successes. Thanks for having me!

Oh, and since I'm not quite prepared today, I'll give you a peak at just a few of the items on my ever-growing "to make" list...

Recycled crayons - I'd like to do these as favors for my son's birthday this summer. I kind of cringe when we get a bag of plastic stuff at other parties. Instead I'd like to give the kids something they can use up completely with no waste left behind.

Photo Memory game - Another one for the kids. We have tons of summer birthday parties each year. This game in a handmade drawstring bag will be perfect for all of our little friends.

Crate slipcovers - A hundred of these probably wouldn't be enough for my storage problems, but this is a good (and cute!) start.

Papier Mache bowls - Just because they'd be pretty sitting all in a row on my long farm table.

Quilted hot pads - These look so cheery. I've (gasp) never done any quilting before, so I thought this would be a good place to start.

Love the recycled crayons! We did that last year for Valentine's Day. Only (1) we were lazy and just made "rainbow" crayons by putting them all in together (and yes, we took the wrappers off) and (2) we were lazy (again) and just microwaved the crayons. And, because great minds think alike, I'm actually also giving these out as favors for my son's birthday at the end of the month.

i tried the microwave crayons before Christmas but found it MUCH easier & less messy to simply set my oven on 250, insert muffin liners in a muffin pan and let my crayons melt slowly and evenly. (prop open the oven door if it gets too hot. After they've cooled, i peel away the papers and they're good to go. They also keep the marbles rainbow look better than when I melt them in the microwave and pour them into molds. I also do the same thing with left over bits of soap!

I just made recylced crayons recently too! I had my girls help me sort the crayon bits into matching and similar colors and we put them into the mini muffin tin with mini muffin wrappers. I just stuck the pan in the oven after I pulled dinner out and watched it until the wax was melted.